It's Got Wheels!

This week has seen the arrival of the wheels and brakes from Bike Chain, allowing the rear subsection to be aligned and assembled, just needs a bracket for the callipers and it is pretty much there.

 The last few days has also seen work on the bonnet section with the main assembly yesterday and release from the jig today. Now it's free a hole for the driver can be cut and the silk/bioresin composite process can get under way. Then we can start to think about the finish we will give the whole body, most likely a hot coat of resin to get a nice glassy sheen, another technique lifted from the surfboard builders in the workshop nextdoor!

 It's the second team Friday tomorrow, so all the lads will be wearing their team hoodies instead of their regular uniform. Hopefully we can get organised enough for some pictures this time!

Back to Work

Work has resumed on the car after the Easter break, luckily none of the team is stuck overseas! Work continues on the drive chain with the addition of the sprockets and chain from HPC Gears, The gig used for the body has now been reworked into the gig for the bonnet section and the electronics for the autochanger have been prototyped and are ready for testing. With only 2 months to go to the heat however, we need to start getting a move on if we want to do any significant testing before hand.

Composite Process

The large bottom piece of silk was attached on Tuesday and the resin cured off. The bottom sheet overlaps the sides a bit and then when the sides go on they will overlap the bottom a bit, creating a double layer of silk over the joint in the woodwork, a technique stolen from the guys making surfboards in the workshop next door!  The bioresin is UV cure so it goes under the sun bed to cook. The great advantage of this is that it can be worked for as long as we need, it doesn't cure until it goes under the lamps.
At the same time, Mr Beech has been working with some of the boys on the steering hardware, to Mr Lloyd-King's designs.

Drive Shafts

We had a visit from Calum Evans from Teagle Machinary today and he brought with him the rear drive shafts theat he has been working on for us. This is a really exciting stage of the build now as the outsourced components are coming in and the hard work that has been put in by everyone really starts to show. Also I think Mr Beech is alot happier now that he has some metal to work with!

Subframe Arrival

The rear subframe arrived today, the manufacturing of which was arranged by Andy McReady and his contacts at the Rotary Club. This will carry the drive chain including the rear axles and also form the roll hoop and part of the seat.